The invention is related to the field of computer security.
Computers employ a technique called “password hashing” in their security mechanisms that protect the computer and the data it stores from proper access and use. At its most basic, password hashing involved applying a hash function to a user's password or other secret value to generate a hash value that is stored and used in the computer rather than the user's password. The hash function has a “one-way” characteristic, in the sense that there is no corresponding discrete inverse function that can be applied to the hash value to recover the password. Thus, use of password hashing in a computer can enhance security, because of the reduced risk of a user password being compromised and used for an improper purpose, such as unauthorized access to stored data.